


The Most Unlikely Alliance Ever

by ITookTheOneLessTravelled



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Crack-y crack, F/F, F/M, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I'm not sorry, Katniss and Glimmer are allies!, Multi, Other, The Author Regrets Nothing, omg, so cracky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-06
Updated: 2012-09-09
Packaged: 2017-11-13 16:21:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/505420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ITookTheOneLessTravelled/pseuds/ITookTheOneLessTravelled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss and Glimmer are allies, because... no reason. Just because. And Rue, because she's awesome. The head gamemaker is totally seduced by Glimmer's awesomeness. The Hunger Games will never be the same. And not in a good way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I am out of my mind, I somehow came up with this mess. I plead not guilty by way of insanity. Crack!fic, OOC. My first real attempt at humour, though I probably failed miserably. I’m better at writing angst. Also, explicit language and somewhat mature themes, so be warned.

Training, Day 1:

Glimmer always liked striking things. Maybe that was because she was striking herself. Striking people, well, people who could still be striking when standing next to her were rare. When she was on the train to the Capitol watching the reapings, only one person ended up striking. 

Katniss Everdeen. The girl from District Twelve. The girl who, coming from a district that only had two victors in seventy-three years, hurled herself up there as a volunteer to save her sister’s life. The Capitol may call it what they liked, but everyone else knew that she was dying for her sister. They all knew. 

So, Katniss succeeded in catching Glimmer’s attention. That meant little. Lots of people managed to catch Glimmer’s attention. Few of them managed to keep it. The first time that she saw Katniss after that was in the tribute parade. Her carriage went first. As a result, her carriage also stopped first, which gave her the chance to turn around and look back at the other tribute carriages. 

Katniss Everdeen was on fire. Oh, so was the weak little moron in the carriage next to her, but Katniss Everdeen was the really striking one. And then they held hands. Or, more specifically, Peeta took Katniss’ hand, Katniss slapped at him and Peeta said something in undertone to her, when she finally relented and thrust her hand back into his. 

Right then and there, Glimmer decided that her and Katniss Everdeen were going to be allies. It didn’t matter what Katniss said about it. Glimmer always got what she wanted, and she wanted Katniss Everdeen. Sure, as a Career Tribute from District One, Glimmer should have allied with Marvel, Cato and Clove.

Instead, on the first day of training, Glimmer got her food and went over to the table that the two tributes from Twelve were sitting at. “Hi!” She said, in that perky tone that she knew annoyed everyone (Marvel) into being willing to do whatever she wanted, if only to make her go away. “Can I sit here?” Both the girl and boy stared at her in astonishment, and Glimmer took that to be ascent.

She settled down at the table, both Katniss and Peeta gaping at her. “You shouldn’t do that, you’ll get premature wrinkles.” She reached across the table to use her thumb to smooth the skin between Katniss’ brows. 

“Doubt it’s likely that we’ll live long enough to get wrinkles, anyway,” Katniss muttered, clearly unable to help herself. Peeta elbowed her in the ribs and Glimmer laughed.

“Peeta. Would you mind letting me speak to your fellow tribute alone for a moment?”

Both of them stared at her suspiciously before Peeta nodded and slid off in another direction. 

“Is white bread over there your ally?” Glimmer wanted to know.

“No,” Katniss muttered. “We just know each other a bit, from home.” Her cheeks coloured. “My family went through a rough patch a few years ago and he helped me out some—and why am I telling you this? Why are you even here, One?”

“Glimmer,” she informed her with a beatific smile. “And because I want an ally.”

“And you, gorgeous Career Tribute from One, want me, the emaciated, starving, poor, average looking girl from the district that has had only two victors in the entire history of the Hunger Games?” 

“I like striking things. And not much catches my attention.”

“Figures that someone like you would be interested in an alliance because of my costume.”  
“And because of the reaping,” Glimmer answered cheerfully. “That—I have to say, it was the bravest thing that I have ever seen.”

“Cinna said that.”

“Cinna?”

“My stylist.”

“Fire guy.”

“Yes,” Katniss said warily. “Now, honestly, Glimmer, what exactly do you want? You’ve already got allies, they’re over there. And I think that the guy from Two hates my guts. So if you’re trying to get me to trust you, you won’t.”

“Please, this is The Hunger Games. Nobody trusts anybody, unless they want a knife in their back. But those Careers would toss me to the wolves without a second thought. I—I’ve watched the Games before, I know what happens in those Career packs. I don’t want to die like that. Maybe I’m going to die, but it shouldn’t be because my own ally stabbed me in the back. And I don’t want to be the kind of person that would win against them.”

“So why me?”

“To make a statement? Because you’re the Girl on Fire? Because I have a feeling that you’re a lot more competent than you let on?”

Somehow, Katniss must have sensed her sincerity. “So, One and Twelve. We must be making Games history.”

“Undoubtedly,” Glimmer agreed with a smirk, offering a hand. Katniss hesitated for only a moment before taking it. Then she gestured Peeta back. 

“Peeta, this is Glimmer, from One. She’s going to eat with us.”

“Sure, Katniss. If that’s what you want.” They ate mostly in silence, Peeta staring at Glimmer and Glimmer looking at Katniss, who was ignoring them both. Then lunch was over and back to the training room. 

“So, Twelve, what are you good at?”

Katniss looked wary. 

“Please. If we’re going to be allies, I’m going to have to know,” she pointed out. 

“Shooting. I’m good with a bow. I hunt, outside the fence in Twelve and I sell the meat at the Hob—the black market.”

“That’s good. We’ll be fed. I’m better close range. Knives. So, I’m guessing that your mentor told you not to reveal anything. So did mine. I figure that we can do the survivalist stuff for now.” Glimmer latched onto Katniss’ arm like a leech. Katniss flinched, but did nothing to shove her off, and they instead made it across the gym to the edible plants area, where they discuss berries, nuts and other fruits.

They could both feel the eyes on them, Peeta’s with a faint air of bemusement and Cato, Clove and Marvel watching them with contempt. Glimmer didn’t care. She had officially abandoned them before they could do the same to her. Unless something goes wrong, Glimmer and Katniss will part ways in the final eight or so, and then their alliance will be over. But Glimmer knew that Katniss was not the type of person to end an alliance with a knife in the back, and that’s better than she would get with the Careers. 

Fortunately (or, unfortunately, as the case may be) by the end of the training day, or almost, Glimmer and Katniss found themselves becoming genuine friends. Katniss, when she actually opened her mouth to speak, had a dry, deadpan snark that thoroughly complimented Glimmer’s more obvious bubbliness. 

And since Glimmer got what she wanted, she decided that they were both going to come out of this arena alive. She told Katniss this, but Katniss just shook her head.  
“Pipe dream, Glim,” she said, eyeing the person that had recently become her best friend in the world besides Gale. “Won’t happen.”

“If our alliance entertains the audience enough, then they will,” Glimmer shot back. “Our banter, genuine friendship. That might get them to change the rules. And there’s another thing, too.”

“What’s that?” Katniss asked warily. She was already acquainted with Glimmer’s idea of a plan, with some of the ideas that she had been dropping about the arena.

“Come on, this way. Just play along.” She grabbed Katniss’ hand and dragged her to the door in the hallway that led to the Gamemakers. 

“Excuse me, we need to speak with Seneca Crane,” Glimmer said winningly. She gave her most perfect innocent smile to the Gamemaker that had answered the door.

“Speak—with Seneca Crane?”

“Yes,” Glimmer agreed, elbowing Katniss in order to get her to act more genial. “That’s not against the rules, is it?”

“No, no. Not at all. It’s just—girls, it’s just not done.”

“Well, we’re doing it,” Katniss snapped, not sure what Glimmer’s plan was, but willing to back her up all the same.

The Gamemaker backed away from the door, soon to be replaced by his boss, the young attractive man with a funny beard (but the way that fashion was in the Capitol, the guy was the height of ‘tame’) and a confused look on his face. 

“Katniss, Glimmer,” he greeted. “What can I do for you?”

“Maybe somewhere private? That’s not against the rules, is it?”

Shaking his head, Seneca Crane led them to a private office. “Now, how can I help you? I can’t give you an advantage in the arena, that’s not very sporting—“

“That’s not true. You give people advantages all the time, if they offer a good show. We’re just being less covert about it. Everyone knows how this goes. We’re promising you a very good show.”

“That’s an... interesting assessment,” he admitted. “But, nonetheless true. But why exactly are you telling me?”

“Katniss and I have arranged an alliance,” Glimmer answered candidly. Seneca Crane’s mouth dropped open. 

“Exactly. The Career tribute from District One and the only volunteer ever to grace the stage from Twelve, allies. She’s already given you a good show, between sacrificing herself for her sister and the fire. This, though, you’ll make Hunger Games history. You’ll go down as the Head Gamemaker who arranged one of the only alliances never done before. You’ll be so famous, you can’t walk down the street to the store without being mobbed. And all we want is a few things in return.”

“Like what?” He challenged, eyeing them interestedly.

“Kat?”

“A bow. Make sure that there’s a bow and arrows in there. And plenty of huntable game. You give me those, and I can almost guarantee that we’ll make it to the final eight. And you want that—it wouldn’t do for this brilliant alliance to be snuffed out before it has a chance to light a fire under the viewers,” Katniss sighed. “I mean, there’s always chance. The Careers, the bloodbath at the cornucopia, if we can’t find water. But we’re pretty resourceful people. I know the woods like the back of my hand. And Glim’s been trained for this her whole life. But the ones who have been trained for this their whole lives always team up together and hunt down the weaklings, then start stabbing each other in the back in the final eight or so. That must get boring after awhile. In fact, I bet that you’ve been trying to find ways to circumvent those alliances, but you can’t do anything except start picking them off.”

“That’s very true,” he admitted. “A bow. Anything else?”

“Well, if you could put it near her, that would be excellent,” Glimmer offered. “The way that everything’s always spread all over the cornucopia? Just have the bow close to her so that she can grab it and go. And it would also be nice if we could be standing next to each other, and maybe some other useful items as well.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, any help that you can give us along the way would be appreciated,” Glimmer said, her voice going low and breathy. “After all, you’re the Head Gamemaker, you would know better than us how to keep a tribute alive. And also... if it comes down to us at the final two, it would be shame if we had to kill each other, yes?”

Seneca Crane gulped as Glimmer advanced towards him, running a fingertip up his chest gently. “The most popular alliance in history, terminated by a technicality? Don’t you think that an exception can be made, just this once? In the name of Panem unity, after all. I would be veeerrry grateful.”

Seneca Crane stared at her, eyes bugging out of his head. “I—we’ll see.”

“That’s nice of you,” Glimmer purred, removing her finger and blindly reaching back for Katniss’ hand. “We really should be getting back to the training room now. Thank you for everything.”

They left the Head Gamemaker standing, shocked in the middle of his office. It was unlikely that anyone had ever thought to try that before.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Katniss picked at her food that night at dinner, wondering exactly what Glimmer was doing at this moment. Glimmer was, despite her best efforts to prevent it, a friend. A good one. Someone who she had clicked with faster and better than any other girl in her entire life. And she was probably having sex with Seneca Crane. 

“Katniss?”

“Yes?”

“That’s the third time I’ve called you,” Haymitch slurred. It seemed like, drunk or not, his tongue had gotten stuck so that he always slurred his speech. “What happened at training today? Peeta said that you two ate lunch with someone else. He wouldn’t say who, just that you two were friendly after it.”

“Ally,” Katniss muttered, unsure how Haymitch would react to this. “I’ve got an ally.”

“Oh?” He quirked one eyebrow in curiosity. “Who is it? Who would you hook up with? And how do you know you can trust them?”

“Hunter instinct,” Katniss shot back scathingly. “And I might as well tell you, since Peeta will anyway. The girl from One. Glimmer.”

“Career,” Haymitch observed. Katniss couldn’t tell whether or not he approved. They stared at each other nastily.

“Children!” Peeta broke in. “Haymitch, you’re the mentor. What do you think of Katniss’ alliance?”

“It sucks. She can’t trust that girl as far as the little one from eleven could throw her.”

“I trust her,” Katniss said boldly, not sure what had sparked it. It was as if she and Glimmer were meant to be best friends, like they would have been from when they were little if they hadn’t been born in different districts. 

“Do you?” Haymitch said nastily. “And why is that?”

“She told me the truth. That if she teamed up with the Careers, they’d stab her in the back. And she said that she liked striking things, and that I had managed to be striking.”

“True to the first, and I can’t really argue with the second,” Peeta broke in, looking leery. “I don’t know her. And she seemed nice enough. But she could be pretending.”

“She’ll need someone. Those other Careers looked mad,” Katniss reasoned, trying to figure out herself why she trusted Glimmer so much. “That she had abandoned them. She’ll get killed in a second if she betrays me. She was risking a lot. Because she wanted me.”

“Really, Katniss!” Haymitch snorted. “I had honestly thought that you were above that kind of naivety. She wanted you. That’s ludicrous.”

“She wanted sponsors. And the Capitol would love it. One and Twelve, teaming up? They’ll leap onto the idea. And they already love me. And,” Katniss added defensively. “She’s off seducing the Head Gamemaker right now. We made a deal with him. She got me a bow.”

“You can’t make a deal with the Gamemakers!”

“What do you mean, seducing?” Effie Trinket broke in, her voice accelerated to the most annoying screech that anyone had ever heard. Haymitch dived under the table, Peeta lurched backwards like someone had slapped him and Katniss clamped her hands over her ears and moaned. Effie Trinket was, on top of being despicable enough to enjoy arranging the bloody deaths of teenagers for entertainment, a complete dumbass. Katniss had only needed to hear that ridiculous stuff that she had pulled out of her ass about coal turning to pearls to know that. 

She also had the most annoying voice on the face of the planet. “That poor little girl should not get taken advantage of by a man!” She shrieked, clearly having figured out the meaning of the word ‘seduce’ all by herself. Good girl. 

Peeta joined Haymitch under the table, taking cover from the flying spittle. Katniss, well, Katniss was made from sterner stuff than that. She had what Glimmer seemed to think took to be a victor. And she planned to be one. With a bow, you couldn’t count her out. She leaned away from the steady stream before Effie finally shut her mouth.

“As I was saying,” she interrupted, glaring around. “Glimmer is seducing Seneca Crane for other reasons—our deal with him was independent from that.” She wasn’t about to tell him that Glimmer was trying to seduce Seneca Crane into changing the immutable rules of The Hunger Games. “It’s really simple, honestly.”

“What’s simple, Sweetheart?” Haymitch asked nastily. 

“Our deal. With Seneca Crane. We came and told him about our alliance—and we promised to give him a good show. That’s all. That’s all they really want, actually. And he understood that we were promising to give it to him. And all that we wanted in return was—“ Katniss glanced at Peeta in alarm. “A few things.”

“Your funeral, sweetheart.”

“Perhaps not,” Katniss shot back, baring her teeth. Allies were good. They’d get more sleep, more food and they’d watch each other’s backs. She’d learned this from years of watching the Games, and obviously something made Glimmer think that she was worth it, or else she wouldn’t have ditched the careers. 

The elevator dinged from the foyer, signaling that someone had come into the main lines. Thinking that it must have been Cinna or Portia, since Effie, Haymitch and Peeta were already up here, Katniss ignored it. Until...

“I need to talk to Katniss!” The perky, ridiculously blonde voice unmistakably belonged to her new ally. Katniss could practically hear her batting her eyelashes. “It isn’t against the rules, is it?”

The person that she was speaking to, probably Effie, obviously gave non-verbal ascent before Katniss decided to follow thr voice. And just because Katniss was being anti-social and moping, it didn’t mean that the others were. Judging by the look of disbelief on Haymitch’s face, he hadn’t believed her until now. 

“Sure thing, Princess,” Haymitch drawled. Katniss was somewhat comforted that she wasn’t the only girl that Haymitch assigned a demeaning female nickname to, though Glimmer had clearly taken it as a compliment. 

“I’m here!” Katniss called, coming into the room. 

“Kat!” Katniss could practically hear Haymitch rolling his eyes. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“It worked.”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely.” Glimmer smirked. “Seneca Crane is one hundred percent wrapped around my little finger.”

“You must be a hell of a good lay.” It had slipped out before she could stop it, but Katniss didn’t regret it. If she was going to be able to keep up with Glimmer, she needed to give as good as she got. 

“I am,” Glimmer purred. “Why, want to try?”

Katniss opened her mouth to answer with something equally lewd and inappropriate, but was interrupted by Haymitch’s guffaw and the sound of Peeta choking on his own tongue. Then both male tribute and victor dove behind the couch with Effie’s half strangled high pitched snort-thing, in order to find some sort of spittle protection. 

“Glimmer, this is Haymitch Abernathy, my mentor, most well known for diving head first off the stage at the reaping, and my escort Effie Trinket. You already know Peeta. Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, my ally, Glimmer.”

“He’s also well-known for winning the Quarter Quell,” Glimmer said absently. “And, I must suggest that you are a genius.”

“Thank you, princess. You clearly possess more in the way of social skills than Katniss, here. You’ve seen tapes?”

“Of every Hunger Games ever played.”

“Finally, someone appreciates me.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Glimmer said bluntly. “I think that both of them are at an extreme disadvantage, partially because there’s only one mentor for them to share and most districts have two and partially because you’ve got your head shoved so far up a bottle that you can’t see straight, but I do acknowledge that you’re a genius when you bother to sober up. But now Katniss and I are allies. Which means that my life is partially in your hands too. So you aren’t having anymore alcohol. And you’re going to collaborate with my mentor.”

“Who’s your mentor, princess?”

“Cashmere,” Glimmer said cheerfully. Haymitch full-out groaned. 

“Hate her.”

“I don’t care. You are going to get along with her, or I will remind you that I am a Career Tribute, and I am perfectly capable of removing the skin from your bones shred by shred, and it isn’t against the rules to attack a mentor, only a tribute.”

“Scary. You better make sure that this one doesn’t turn on you, sweetheart,” he said to Katniss. 

“She might just turn me on, instead.” Haymitch guffawed, Peeta choked, Effie let out a horrified yelp and Glimmer smirked. 

“Looks like I’ve been rubbing off on you, girl on fire.”

“Sounds fun,” Katniss shot, hardly able to believe her own mouth, and realizing that Glimmer truly must have rubbed off during the day that they spent together. People can get to know each other pretty well when they know that they’re going to die, after all. “When do we start?”

“Katniss!” Peeta’s horror was so clearly entertaining that Glimmer joined Haymitch laughing, and even Katniss snorted, partially wondering what her mother, Prim and Gale would think of this new person when they saw her on TV. Because the Capitol would eat this dirty, flirty back and forth up so much that Seneca will have his fame. And they would have their lives. 

In for a penny, “what? She’s so hot that it’s got me batting for the other team,” in for a pound. 

“We could put on that kind of show. I’m sure the Gamemakers would go for it.”

“Absolutely not,” Katniss snapped. “My twelve year old sister is watching this, you know.”

Glimmer arched a brow. “I’m sure that they have that fuzzy stuff that covers up the good parts.”

Katniss rolled her eyes and decided that now was the time to remove them both from the sitting room before she got on Haymtich’s good side any further. “Come on, my room’s this way.”

“Ohhh, does it have a bed?”

“You know it, baby.”

And they were followed out of the room by disbelieving stares. Glimmer started laughing and leaning heavily on Katniss, and it didn’t take Katniss very long to join her, both of them howling by the time that they got to Katniss’ room. 

“That. Was. Priceless!” Glimmer hollered, flopping onto the bed and rolling over until her face was buried in the pillow. “The look on bread boy’s face—“

“Why do you call him that?”

“Cause he looks like a loaf of bread.”

“His father’s the baker,” Katniss offered, snorting. 

“That’s perfect. Now, for what Crane said—he can swing it, as long as we put on a good show. That means that after the bloodbath, we have to play the game. We can’t just hide in the woods and wait for the others to eliminate each other.”

“We never would have anyway. The Careers are mad at you, and that brute from District 2 hates my guts for some reason.”

“The fire,” Glimmer answered. “You took sponsors away from him. And that stunt that you pulled at the reaping.”

“Child,” Katniss snorted. 

“Cato? Yes, from what I can see he is very much an overgrown child. He thinks that winning this thing is his due, like we should be grateful to collapse at his feet and let him kill us. For our Victory Tour,” Glimmer added airily. “Do you think that we’ll start in eleven and go to one, and then back to twelve, or what?”

“I don’t know.” Katniss smirked, suddenly sure that they were going to win, though it wouldn’t do to be too cocky about it. “Why don’t we let the Capitol figure that out? We just get to go along for the ride. I wonder if they’ll let me bring Prim? She is the reason why I’m here, after all. And I’m sure that she’d like to see the Capitol.”

“Of course,” Glimmer agreed with a smile. “You get some sleep, girl on fire. Early training tomorrow.”

“You mean you’re not staying?” Katniss asked with huge, fake blinking eyes. “I thought you wanted to see the bed.”

Glimmer cracked up. “I should have known that you’d be impossible once I’d pulled out of that shell of yours. Seriously, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. G’night.”

“Course. I’m not going to my bed, though.”

“Who—Seneca Crane. Thought you already—“

“He’s very good,” Glimmer said absently. “And positive reinforcement can’t hurt anyone. If I’m good enough in bed, he’ll want me to stay alive so that he can have me afterwards, too.”

“Your call,” Katniss said, shrugging one shoulder. It wasn’t her place to judge. She knew that Glimmer had been taught from a young age to use her beauty, her body, to her advantage. “But if you don’t want to—“

“Doesn’t matter,” Glimmer passed it off. “Besides, I’m going to have to get used to it. You know that they sell the desirable victors, right? I’m gorgeous. It’s simply fact. They’re going to be moving me in and out of people’s beds until I’m old and grey.”

“What!”

“They sell the victors. Their bodies. What, you don’t think that Finnick Odair is that much of a manslut all on his own, do you?” Glimmer’s eyes glazed over. “Finnick Odair... Mmm. Talk about delicious. We would make such beautiful babies, don’t you think? Too bad he’s in love with that other girl. Annie Cresta.”

“Who?” Katniss felt lost. But there was no denying Finnick Odair’s gorgeousness, or his mansluttiness. 

“Annie Cresta? She’s the one a few years back that went mad when the boy from her district was killed. Ran off into the woods. She survived because the place flooded and she was the best swimmer. Finnick Odair’s totally in love with her. Trust me, Kat. I know these things.”

“If you say so,” Katniss surrendered, raising both hands in defeat. 

“I do,” Glimmer answered triumphantly. “He’s staying on district four’s floor, but not mentoring. We can ask him tomorrow.”

“Glimmer...”

“Oh, we can be tactful about it. It really is quite tragic, after all. Both victors, her mad and him an instrument of the Capitol. They can’t really ever be together.”  
Katniss paused. It was true, really. The Capitol couldn’t ever stop ruining these people’s lives, could they? Even after they’d won, they couldn’t leave them alone to grieve and put the pieces back together. Most of them are like Haymitch, she knew. Alcoholics or drug addicts, bodies wasted. Or, apparently, forced prostitutes. Or insane, like Annie Cresta. And, jokes aside, if it weren’t for Prim a part of her wondered whether winning would be worth it. 

But there was Prim, and now there was Glimmer. And Gale, and her mother. All people that she should live for, if she could. Somehow, in the space of a day, Glimmer had been relegated to the list of most important people. And she knew from the way that Glimmer was looking at her that she felt the same. 

“I can’t wait to meet your sister,” Glimmer said softly.

“She’ll love you,” Katniss murmured. “But you just censor yourself around her, alright? She’s pretty innocent.”

“Oh, yes,” Glimmer cackled. “Fresh meat. Something new to corrupt.”

“Shut up. And get out.”  
“Gone.” 

Training, Day 2:

“Come on!” Glimmer whined plaintively, pulling at Katniss’ arm. “I wanna go see the knives!”

“You’re such a child sometimes.” She leaned in closer, pressing her forearm to Glimmer’s shoulder and her lips to her ear. “We’ve got a shadow.” She gestured to the little girl, Rue, from eleven, who was hiding behind a pillar.

“That really is the most despicable, isn’t it? This city is so full of glamour that sometimes you forget. But these people...”

“Sometimes I wonder what they do all day, while waiting for a new shipment of children to come and die for their entertainment,” Katniss muttered back. “Maybe we can’t save her, but we can teach her a few things. Rue!”

The little girl started. “Yes, Rue, we know you’re there. Come on out, okay?”

She crept forward to where Katniss and Glimmer were sitting on the mats, Glimmer playing with a knife in her hand. “Come, sit,” Glimmer said, smiling devilishly. “We don’t bite. Honest.”

Rue was practically trembling as she sat crosslegged, creating a circle. “You know how to use a knife?”

“No, not really.”

Glimmer looped her fingers around the dull side of the blade and offered the twelve-year-old the handle. As she reached out to take it, Katniss gently adjusted her grip. “You’ll hurt yourself if you hold too tightly. Loose—it has to be like a natural extension of your arm. Now, somebody’s going at your throat with a knife, what do you do?”

“I—die, I guess. I’m not big enough to fight off any of these people directly.”

“Wrong. You push it away. They won’t be expecting it, and better your hands than your throat. Then you go for the eyes. As you said, you’re small. You go for the eyes, the groin. Temples. Every weak spot that you can reach. Pull hair, scratch, bite. Anything to get away. The ear’s good, because nobody thinks to guard it, and it can hurt like hell. If they’ve got you, you shock them with pain—a stomp to the foot, and knee to the jewels. Then you can run like hell. You don’t stay and fight.”

Soon, Glimmer had the bewildered little girl doing basic knife maneuver and coaching her in blocking them without hurting herself. A weapon that you can’t use, after all, is more dangerous to you than any weapon in an enemy’s hands. At best, they’ll simply take it from you. At worst, they’ll use it against you when you’ve still got hold of it. 

“Rue, have you got any allies?” It simply slipped out of Katniss’ mouth, and Glimmer grinned, clearly having been thinking the same thing. 

“No, why?”

“Now you do,” Glimmer answered cheerfully. “Now, finish up with that last one, and we’ll take a break. Katniss wants to meet Finnick Odair.”

“I DO NOT!!!! That was you!”

Glimmer just smirked. “Regardless of whose idea it was, we’re going to meet Finnick Odair. I figure that since we’re all going to be dead soon anyway, we deserve some pretty things in life.”

“You mean besides you?”

“Yeah, exactly. See, Kat? I like the little one.”

“Oh, no, you’ve already started corrupting her. I’ve changed my mind, you can’t meet Prim. I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

“You already agreed,” Glimmer singsonged. Rue finished with the knife and threw it down.

“Time to go,” she said cheerfully. “If you really want me,” she sounded doubtful now. 

“As an ally? All the way. We saw yesterday, how you were climbing around on those nets. Now come on, time to meet Finnick Odair.”

Glimmer led them to the elevator and hit the button for the fourth floor. It dinged and they exited—the rooms were exactly the same layout, but different decorations. And, conveniently, there was Finnick Odair himself, slumped on the couch watching TV. 

“Yes? Are you supposed to be up here?”

“There’s no rule against it,” Glimmer answered dismissively. “People just don’t do it very often. We just wanted to meet you.”

“Meet me? Why?”

“Well, Kat and Rue were curious. I just wanted to meet the person that I’m going to beat.”

“Beat?” He was faintly bemused by this.

“Well, everyone says that you’re the prettiest victor in history. At least the prettiest one still alive. But when I win, you won’t be.”

He didn’t seem to be able to stop himself from snorting. “Cocky, aren’t you?”

“No, I just have the best allies.”

“Hold. Allies? Them? Eleven and Twelve? That’s going to shake the city to the ground, isn’t it?”

“That’s the plan,” Glimmer agreed cheerfully. “Also, we wanted to ask if it’s true that you’re in love with Annie Cresta?”

“What!”

“Glimmer!”

“No, no, it’s okay. It’s not really a secret, really. Yes, I do love her. Very much.”

“They can’t ever stop ruining your lives, can they?” Katniss demanded angrily. “Even after they force you to fight to the death, they can’t let you live as you want to.”

“No, they really can’t,” Finnick said. “Sit, why don’t you? You two should be okay, but you... I always liked Haymitch Abernathy. Funny guy. But he’s a terrible mentor.”

“He’s been okay, actually,” Katniss defended him. Haymitch was trying. “And he likes Glimmer.”

“He calls me princess,” Glimmer said proudly. 

“Yeah, so? He calls me sweetheart. He’ll probably call Rue darling or something.”

“But he calls me princess. It means that he recognizes me to be above everyone else.” Katniss snorted. “Hey, don’t hate on me because I’m pretty.”

Katniss rolled her eyes and Rue, still unused to Glimmer’s attitude, watched wide-eyed. “Audience is going to love that,” Finnick observed. “Different districts. So how to do you two know each other so well?”

“We don’t. But we’re learning.”

“Learning.” He sounded skeptical.

“Glimmer likes striking things,” Katniss said wryly. “And apparently, I qualify as striking.”


	2. Training, Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer wants to meet Finnick Odair. Katniss is disillisioned, and they both need someone to take care of.

Training, Day 3:

“This is boring,” Glimmer insisted, snatching a knife from her district partner’s hand and throwing it into the wall. Katniss snorted, Marvel glared and Rue laughed. 

“This is survival skills, Glimmer. This is what will keep us from eating poisonous stuff in the arena.”

“Oh, please, would you?” Marvel pleaded. 

“You and half pint already know this stuff, though,” Glimmer whined, ignoring Marvel completely. “You won’t let me eat anything bad.”

“Yes, but are you going to come and find us every time you want to eat a plant? What if we get separated? It’s impractical. And don’t call me half pint,” Rue snapped. “And put the knives down. Both of you.”

Both Marvel and Glimmer cowered from the glare in the twelve year old’s eyes, and both went over to the next station to strip themselves of their weaponry. Then Glimmer came back, but Marvel fled instead. 

“You know, Glimmer, at first I was pissed at you, but now I’m pretty sure that I don’t want you as an ally. You’re insane. All three of you are insane.”

Katniss, Rue and Glimmer fixed angelic smiles onto their faces and waved at him as he left. “Toodles,” Glimmer called at Marvel’s retreating back. 

As soon as he was gone, Glimmer fell onto Katniss laughing. Katniss herself barely managed to keep a straight face, and Rue was on the floor, rolling around in the samples of plant leaves. The operator of the station looked very irritated with them, but Katniss and Glimmer had managed to make a name for themselves during the previous two days of training, and nobody voluntarily wanted to confront their insanity. 

Training was cut short that day so that each tribute could have their private sessions with the Gamemakers. Glimmer, as the girl from District One, went second, just following Marvel. She winked at Seneca Crane without even bothering to be discreet before she went to the knives and showed a variety of close manoeuvres on the dummies. It only took her about ten minutes to go around the combat stations, showing at least minimum efficiency with every weapon offered. She was worst with a bow, so it was good that Katniss could shoot. Then she stood before the Gamemakers to be dismissed. 

Seneca Crane was staring at her with something more than simple lust in his eyes. Glimmer knew that look. She recognized that look. She had seen it on lots of boys back home. Instead of balking at it like she had done in the past, she winked at him again. Looking favourable towards a relationship with Seneca Crane would only help later on. Plus, nobody said that she wasn’t favourable. 

It wasn’t required to go back into the room where the tributes were waiting, but Glimmer breezed there anyway, forcing Rue to budge over so that she could share her chair. Marvel was gone, as was Cato, who had already left to go. Thresh, who was sitting next to Rue, glared at her incredulously, but Glimmer ignored him in favour of leaning over the back of the chair to address Katniss, who was talking quietly to Peeta. 

“Kattie,” she taunted, snapping her fingers in her face without caring what she was interrupting. 

“Please don’t ever call me that again. Kat, I can deal with—God knows Gale calls me Catnip, but not Kattie.” She shuddered in her chair. “If you call me that again, I will be forced to resort to drastic measures.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. In my interview, I’ll tell all of Panem what you threatened to do to Haymitch and ruin your sweet and innocent routine.”

“You wouldn’t,” Glimmer gasped with mock horror. “If you do, I’ll have to punish you,” she singsonged. Rue squealed softly, Peeta choked on his tongue (a reaction that Glimmer enjoyed provoking in him, if she was perfectly honest), and Thresh turned to stare at them and blinked. 

Katniss pouted. “Will you make it really good?”

This time, Peeta and Thresh choked in tandem. “You two do know that you’re ruining whatever vestiges of my innocence that I had left,” Rue commented carelessly. 

“Oh, please. A twelve year old that uses the word ‘vestiges’? You don’t have innocence. And yes, baby, I’ll make it hurt real good for you,” Glimmer threw at Katniss, who blinked in falsified astonishment. 

“What did you think of my bed last night?”

“It was wonderful,” Glimmer sighed. Thresh was still staring at the three of them, wide-eyed. Peeta looked like someone was pulling the universe down around his ears. Suddenly, it all clicked together for Glimmer, and she wondered how she hadn’t seen it sooner. Peeta was in love with Katniss. Of course. She eyed him before generously deciding not to reveal his secret to Katniss loudly for everyone to hear. 

“Well, I certainly hope so,” Katniss said loftily. “I don’t share my bed with just anyone.” Something flashed across her face then, and she winced and turned away. 

“Kat,” Glimmer said softly, worming out from under Rue to cross around and loop her arms around Katniss. “We’ll get you home to her. Prim will see you again.”

“Thank you, Glim.” 

“Of course,” she answered. “Anytime. Prim may be your little sister, but you’re my little sister now.”

“Pfft,” Katniss shot back. “I’m only two years younger than you.”

“Still younger,” Glimmer taunted. “Besides, that makes Prim my little sister too, and that means that it’s my duty to make her happy by getting you home to her.”  
Despite the flippant quality to her words, Katniss held Glimmer against her tightly, soaking up the comfort that the older girl offered. It was only seconds before Rue joined the group hug. “Can I be your sister, too?”

“Yeah,” Katniss managed fondly. “You can be Prim’s twin, since you guys are the same age. And don’t you have younger siblings as well?”

“Yes, three of them.”

“Perfect. We can all be one big, happy family.”

“I don’t have family,” Glimmer said, holding Katniss and Rue tighter. “My parents are dead and I never had siblings.”

“Now you do,” Rue said firmly. “Even if it’s just for a few days, you do.”

Glimmer disentangled herself from her allies and took Rue’s seat again. The entire room was staring at them, though only Thresh and Peeta had been close enough to hear their verbal exchange. Rue sat in her lap, since she was small.

The room emptied slowly but surely—eventually, Thresh was called. Rue hopped over to take over his seat as he stood to leave and both hung over the seats to talk to Katniss. Poor Peeta’s eyes followed between the three of them frantically, as if his world had been turned upside down and he didn’t know which way was what. 

“Glim,” Rue said softly. “I’m next.”

“I know,” Glimmer answered distractedly. 

“I’m nervous.”

“You’ll be fine. Just do that thing where you leap all over the room without touching the floor. I pulled at least a nine and probably a ten, and Kat should be able to manage the same, if what she’s said about her shooting is true. You don’t need a high score for sponsors, because you’ll be with us and people will send us stuff. Just go in there and do your thing.”

“Thank you, Glim.”

“You’ll be perfect, Rue,” Katniss assured her, shooing her to meet the Gamemaker that had come to get her. “Just meet us back in here after you’re done.”

All three of the remaining people in the room watched Rue go. “That really is the most despicable, isn’t it?” Peeta asked softly.

“That little girl,” Glimmer sighed. “Kat, what if we can’t protect her?”

“We’ll do what we can,” Katniss answered pragmatically. “That’s all that we can do.”

“I suppose,” Glimmer sighed. They fell silent again waiting for Rue, all staring at the door when she came bursting back through. 

“I did it!”

“That’s good, baby,” Glimmer answered. Peeta got up and left the room with the Gamemaker that had come to collect him. “What did you do?”

“I climbed all over the room, like you said. They were only really half paying attention since they’ve seen so many people, but I think that they were impressed. Like when I leapt from the knife rack to the climbing net.”

“Really? Wow, that’s a pretty far jump,” Katniss praised. 

“So, tomorrow. Interviews. No group training tomorrow, since we’ve got individual training with our mentors and escorts for them. They’ll have you come up with an angle—I’ve already got mine. I’m sexy.”

“Clearly,” Katniss said dryly. 

“I’m going to be sweet and innocent. At least that’s what Chaff said at breakfast.”

“Chaff’s your mentor? And Haymitch is mine? Lovely. That’s exactly what we need,” Katniss muttered, remembering the years upon years that she had watched Haymitch and Chaff pass a bottle back and forth during the Games. 

“Cashemere’s not an alcoholic,” Glimmer said perkily. “She can take care of all of us.”

“That’s good,” Katniss said mildly. “I certainly hope so. And—that’s me. Wonder what Peeta did?”

Glimmer and Rue followed Katniss to her feet when the Gamemaker looked at all of them and made a shooing gesture. “Meet us in my room when you’re done, Kat?” Glimmer clarified. Katniss nodded, and the three of them separated, Katniss continuing into the training room and Glimmer and Rue going down the hall to the tribute housing section of the building without going into the elevator, since Glimmer was from District One, and housed on the first floor. 

Katniss... well, Katniss’ temper got the best of her. This was her life that this little demonstration was hinging on, and they couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention. Plus, Rue’s and Glimmer’s. And she had to wonder if they had paid attention to Rue or Peeta or Thresh, or any of the people from District 10, 9, or 8. So, after several aborted attempts to get their attention with her repeated bulls’ eyes, she realized that they were paying more attention to a roast pig than her, and promptly shot the apple out of its mouth and then left without being dismissed. 

Roughly four and a half minutes later, she was ensconced in Glimmer’s room with her allies, pacing back and forth with thoughts of the what-have-I-done variety running back and forth through her head. 

“Honestly, this isn’t funny! What if they give me a one! Then we’ll never get sponsors, not even you, Glim, since you’re with me. What if they try to execute my family? What if they attack us with mutts in the arena! What if Seneca Crane decides that he doesn’t want me to survive after all, and doesn’t give me a bow? What if—“

“Relax,” Glimmer ordered. “Your pacing is making me dizzy. And they wouldn’t do that. Did you aim for any of them?”

“No.”

“Did you hit any of them?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the problem? They want a good show, Kat. They need people with some spunk. Bet you get a twelve.”

“No. There’s no way. That’s never happened. People don’t even get elevens, let alone twelves. They were—I was just mad,” Katniss moaned, collapsing on the bed with Rue, who was still laughing her head off. 

“I get that you were. But I think that they’ll like you. I promised Seneca Crane a good show—you’ve just shown him that you can deliver. He wants this to last—he’ll do everything that he can to help us survive.”

“If you say so,” Katniss said doubtfully. “They’ll be posting the scores after dinner; where should we eat?”

“Let’s go up to twelve,” Glimmer said with a predatory smirk on her face. 

“Why, because you like to make Peeta choke?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Glimmer said unrepentantly. “Plus, I want to be with you when you tell that insane escort of yours what you did at the training session.”

Katniss winced dramatically. “She’ll screech at me about manners for hours, Glim. Hours. It would be kinder to just stick me in the arena now.”

Glimmer and Rue, who had no appreciation for the horrors offered by Effie Trinket’s high pitched shriek, snickered all the way to the elevator, where Glimmer informed the two pretty people sitting in the sitting room area where she was going and when she would be back, before the three of them piled into the elevator and hit the buttons for both eleven and twelve, since Rue would have to tell her mentor where she was going as well. When the door opened on the eleventh floor, Rue shouted out that she was eating dinner with her allies on a different floor and had almost let the door slide shut again before it was bounced back open by a dark stub, where an arm had used to be attached. 

Chaff slid into the elevator with them grinning. “You’re going up to twelve?”

“Yes, that’s what I said, isn’t it?”

“I’ll come with you. Haven’t talked much to Haymitch this year.”

Rue just shrugged, Glimmer briefly eyed him like a piece of meat before she dismissed him, and Katniss sighed. “Lovely. And here I was getting used to the presence of a single alcoholic.”

“You’re supposed to be nice, Kattie!”

“What did I tell you about that?”

“I believe that there was some conversation about punishment—do you want me to find sex toys, or can I use my hand?”

“Whichever you think will feel better, baby,” Katniss shot back. 

The elevator dinged as they reached their floor destination and Katniss and Glimmer tumbled out of it giggling, arm-in-arm. Rue followed behind them, smiling indulgently, and Chaff simply looked bewildered. 

“Effie, Haymitch,” Katniss sang. “I’ve brought guests for dinner. Cinna, hi. These are my allies, Glimmer and Rue. And Chaff, Rue’s mentor.”

“Picked up another one, have you, sweetheart?”

“Yep,” Katniss answered.

“Whose idea was this?” Haymitch eyed Glimmer suspiciously, as if blaming her for the sudden insanity and lack of self preservation that had infected his tribute—the first one that he had had in years that had the slightest chance of winning. “Princess?” 

“Both of ours,” Glimmer answered, taking a free empty seat at the table and starting to dish herself without being invited. “It was a mutual decision. Come sit, Rue,” she asked (ordered) the twelve year old, patting the seat on one side of her while lasering Katniss with her lethal green eyes in order to direct her to the one on the other side. Chaff circled the table to sit next to Haymitch after clapping him on the shoulder. 

“So,” Glimmer said, in a perky tone that bore a disturbing resemblance to Effie Trinket. Haymitch and Peeta, pre-conditioned, started to duck underneath the table before realizing that Effie hadn’t spoken, and cautiously peeked over it. “We need to talk about the Games—notably, your little habits during the Games.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. See, you two are going to remain sober during the Games. If we die horrible deaths, then you may get back to drinking your sorrows away, but you cannot save us if your heads are stuffed down a bottle. So you two are going to get cleared up and sober, and you’re going to stay that way. I’m sure that Peeta and Thresh agree with us, right Peeta?” She threw Peeta a disarming smile, and Peeta blinked away from it like it blinded him. “Oh, honestly, bread boy, if you don’t grow a pair, you’re not going to last a day.”  
Effie let out a scandalized, horrified sound that resembled a dying animal. “Oh, and Katniss is probably going to get a 12 for her session today, so try not to be too surprised,” Glimmer added brightly, after Effie was finished spluttering. 

“I am not! I’ll probably get a 1!” Katniss whined, stabbing into her chicken with slightly more violence than strictly necessary for dealing with already dead poultry. 

“Oh, do stop moping, dear, it’s getting tiring,” Glimmer said dismissively. “You weren’t moping in bed last night.”

This time, Katniss was sure that Glimmer had made that comment for the sole pleasure of hearing Peeta choke. On food this time, instead of his tongue. 

“You know,” Rue said sweetly, reaching over and deftly plucking the decanter of scotch out of Chaff’s hand. “If you two keep lauding your skills in bed like this, I might want to experiment with you too, when I’m older. You’re making me feel left out,” she added with a pout. 

Chaff seamlessly turned to stare accusingly at Glimmer. “What did you do to my innocent, 12 year old tribute?” He demanded, fruitlessly trying to snatch the alcohol back from Rue, who was holding out of reach quite nicely. “She was nice and amiable yesterday!”

“Nah, yesterday we’d already started corrupting her,” Glimmer said conversationally. “But, as I was saying, Katniss shot the Gamemakers today in her private session.”

“Glimmer! You make it sound so much worse than it is,” Katniss protested. 

“Katniss Everdeen!” Effie broke in, tone a painful screech that sent all of the male occupants of the room under the table again, eyes skittering around, daring them to interrupt her. “Manners! Honestly, child! Manners!”

After the second “manners,” Rue and Glimmer joined the men under the table. Effie didn’t seem to notice or care that everyone but the person that she was lecturing was cowering away from her. Katniss just rocked away and hoped for the best, mentally cursing Glimmer to a lifetime of bad sex, before realizing that was a tad bit harsh and revising it to a solid week of bad sex.

Glimmer glared at her from under the table, as if she had heard her thoughts. 

“I didn’t shoot them,” Katniss protested mildly. “I just loosed an arrow in their direction, it didn’t hit anyone! But,” she added, snickering. “One of them fell backwards into a punch bowl.”

“What happened?” Haymitch asked, coming out from under the table cautiously. 

“They weren’t paying attention,” Katniss sulked. “I put arrow after arrow in the bulls’ eye of their stupid targets and I don’t think that they even noticed. Someone brought in their dinner—a huge roasted pig. I lost my temper and shot the apple out of its’ mouth, then I just turned around and left.”

“Without being dismissed?” Effie demanded in a horrified tone.

“Yes, Effie, without being dismissed,” Katniss said, rolling her eyes. “After I shot them, I didn’t really see a point in sticking around.”

Glimmer snorted delicately. “As long as you didn’t damage my baby,” she shot, winking. 

“No, the arrow didn’t get anywhere near Seneca Crane. Honestly, Glim, I didn’t hurt your baby boy toy. Don’t worry so much.”

“What?” Chaff caught on that he was clearly missing something here, and looked around from Katniss to Glimmer, as if hoping that one would explain.

“Glimmer here seduced the Head Gamemaker,” Rue provided drolly. “And she’s clearly gotten attached.”

“I don’t get attached,” Glimmer said sharply. “It’s just that my deal is with him—no other Gamemaker would have any reason to honour it, or even know about it. And no, I won’t tell you what the deal was—Katniss knows it, and I know it, and Rue has guessed bits and pieces of it. Trust me—if it worked, you’ll know.”

“Why do I have this sickly sense of foreboding?” Cinna asked dramatically, finally coming out from under the table belatedly.

“You’re fire guy!” Glimmer said excitedly. “Oh, I’ve wanted to meet you since I saw that costume! It was amazing!”

“Fire guy?” Cinna asked Katniss incredulously, who shrugged in response.

“I didn’t say it, she did,” Katniss muttered. “It was all her. Don’t blame me.”

“What are you going to make her wear for her interview tomorrow? More fire?”

“You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

“Ohhh.” Glimmer grinned. “I like surprises. But she should match me—I’m wearing gold. And Rue’s wearing—what are you wearing, sweetie?”

“White.”

“Okay. White and gold—whatever Kat wears should be able to match—we’re going to reveal our alliance, and we’ve got to look good!”

“What did your mentor say?”

“She hasn’t talked about it yet. But it’s probably best if we do it when we have the chance.”

“Yes,” Haymitch muttered. “She’s going to be a nightmare in the interview—it’s best if her allies are better at attracting the crowd, then they’ll have to support her by default. After shooting the Gamemakers—not that I don’t approve, but you’ll have a hell of a time winning them over, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, ever so,” Katniss snapped. 

“Hey,” Glimmer said cheerfully. “Just pretend you’re talking to me, and you’ll be totally fine.”

“So, you mean that I should make inappropriate suggestions to the audience and invite them to bed with me?”

“No... well, maybe just Caesar Flickerman.”

“Please,” Katniss snorted. “You’re waaayy better than Caesar Flickerman ever could be, baby.”

“Of course I am! Want to see the things that I can do with my mouth?” Glimmer asked without missing a beat. 

“Every single time,” Katniss remarked, looking at the astonished Chaff, indulgent Rue, scandalized Effie, interested Cinna, mildly insulted Haymitch and choking Peeta.

“Of course, Kat,” Glimmer answered, sounding insulted. 

Katniss just shook her head and got back to her dinner. 

Of course, Katniss couldn’t hide from what had happened in her training session forever. Just after dinner, all of them congregated in the sitting room with the TV in order to watch the training scores given to each of the tributes. Predictably enough, Marvel, who had shown up first, managed a nine. Glimmer got a ten, to the applause of everyone in the room. Glimmer simply smiled graciously, as if she had known all along. And she had. 

They watched both tributes from District Two get tens, and then a whole slew of other tributes with scores that ranged anywhere from as low as three to as high as nine. Both tributes from District Four, traditionally a Career district, achieved nines, and Thresh managed a ten, probably just because of his intimidating size

Then Rue got a seven. Everyone in the room exploded into cheers, and Rue received hugs in congratulations before everyone fell silent again, waiting for Peeta’s score: eight. 

Katniss held her breath as her own picture appeared on the screen before a number echoed on top of it. Eleven. 

“Ha! I told you, didn’t I?”

“You did,” Katniss said, laughing. “Actually, I believe that you said twelve, but eleven will do.”

“Eleven—“ Haymitch said, sounding less drunk than he had all evening. “I can work with eleven. Come on, up you get. You two, go down to your own floors and get back to bed. My tribute and I need to discuss interview strategies for tomorrow. No, you may not make rude sexual innuendos to the crowd, though implying that you and princess over there are involved may help more than hinder. God knows that the Capitol loves a love story—“

“That won’t work, Haymitch. First of all, we can’t follow through on that—all we do is flirt, and they’d want to see some action. Secondly, they’d want us to live happily ever after. Forever. We’d never be able to find a life outside of it, never be able to marry a person that we love. This would be it. The Capitol would make sure that we were never happy again. Look at people like Finnick Odair—we’d never get away.”

“Fine,” Haymitch snapped back. “How do you know about Finnick Odair?”

“We talked to him yesterday,” Glimmer replied breezily. “Besides, there are other ways to spin this without bringing romance into it. Or maybe there are other ways to bring romance into it.” She glanced at Peeta, but Haymitch was the only one who followed her gaze, before locking eyes with Glimmer in alarm. 

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes,” Glimmer answered. “I’m well versed in spotting these things, after all. I’ve been taught all my life to take advantage of human connection, and that isn’t exactly a subtle one.”

“Well, I’ll have to see what I can do with that. Is she going to be difficult?”

“No,” Glimmer answered. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Katniss demanded, looking between Glimmer and Haymitch frantically. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Glimmer said cheerfully. “If it works, you’ll find out tomorrow. If it doesn’t, you’ll never know.”

“That doesn’t comfort me,” Katniss answered warily, to which Glimmer grinned. 

“Well, I’m wandering off to visit my boy toy. Don’t get lonely without me in that big, luxurious bed of yours,” Glimmer said cheerfully.

Katniss rolled her eyes as Glimmer disappeared into the elevator, followed by Rue and Chaff, and then she went to bed.

**Author's Note:**

> I am insane. I do know this. Though I don’t want any flames for OOC-ness. I did warn you. A lot.


End file.
